Alberto Morrocco | |
---|---|
Born |
Aberdeen |
14 December 1917
Died | 10 March 1998 Dundee |
(aged 80)
Education | Gray's School of Art |
Known for | Painting |
Alberto Morrocco OBE FRSA FRSE RSW RP RGI LLD (14 December 1917 – 10 March 1998) was a Scottish artist and teacher. He is famous for his landscapes in Scotland and abroad, still-life, figure painting and interiors, but perhaps his best known works are his beach scenes and views of Venice.
Morrocco was born in Aberdeen in 1917, the son of immigrant Italians. He studied at Gray's School of Art between 1932 and 1938, and in France, Italy and Switzerland. He is famous for his landscapes in Scotland and abroad, still life, figure painting and interiors, but perhaps his best known works are his beach scenes and views of Venice.
The avant-garde of the twenties and thirties, in particular Braque and Picasso, had an immense influence on him for the rest of his life. The outbreak of the Second World War saw him detained in Edinburgh Castle, as an enemy alien, but he was released and allowed to serve as a conscientious objector in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After the war Morrocco had a brief spell teaching evening classes. From 1950 onwards Morrocco spent his professional life in Dundee, as Head of the School of Painting at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, which is now part of the University of Dundee. He produced murals for St. Columba's Church in Glenrothes and for Liff Hospital in Dundee.